Assignment: Conflicts in Life
Assignment: Conflicts in Life
Assignment: Conflicts in Life
Conflicts are an unavoidable part of life. No one can go their entire lives without coming
across an opposing idea from one’s own. Conflicts are so common that conflict resolution has
become a full time occupation for millions across the world. From lawyers to judges to
professional mediators, conflict resolution has become a money making industry. We can see
this in shows such as Judge Judy, Divorce Court, and more barbarically Jerry Springer. Conflicts,
however, do not have to be fights or arguments and how a person handles a conflict not only says
a lot about their conflict resolution style but also about the cultural they were raised in.
I come from a high-context home but a low-context culture country. At home my parents
dealt with conflicts by silently ignoring them until they, hopefully, went away. If they didn’t go
away naturally then the end result was a very loud argument until both parties felt like they were
satisfied. This is in line with the high-context cultures of preferring a non-confrontational
conflict resolution. The United States as a low-context culture means that on average most
people prefer to deal with the conflict in a direct style and become frustrated when all parties are
not being open and honest. Both of these styles have shaped the way in which I handle my own
conflict resolution.
Not surprisingly my conflict resolution style has changed over time. When I was younger
and still living with my parents I had a more individualistic style of conflict resolution. I didn’t
like my parent’s avoidance style and so I took on the opposite resolution strategy of being direct
and very assertive with my feeling; such as the engagement style. I would become agitated when
other people were not as forth coming with their feelings and I wanted a quick and speedy
resolution. This led to more aggressive conflicts that were very emotionally expressive. As I got
older and experienced conflicts away from my family and more in a professional setting, I
learned to adapt to a more collectivist style. Now I have a mix between the low-context and high-
context cultures conflict resolution characteristics. On one hand I still want a quick and speedy
resolution where everyone is up-front and direct with their feelings. I now, however, understand
that some conflicts go away naturally with time and that a more direct style can actually add to
the conflict.
Despite one’s conflict resolution style when it comes to successful intercultural
communication we have to adapt in order to resolve conflicts. There can be no resolution to a
conflict if all sides are refusing to be open about their opinion. In addition, both sides need to be
willing to listen and be empathetic to the opposing party. As long as this is the foundation to any
conflict resolution strategy then there is bound to be some resolution no matter the differing
styles of resolution. Assignment: Conflicts in Life
You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.
Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.
Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.
The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.
ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS
Discussion Questions (DQ)
Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation
Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week. Assignment: Conflicts in Life
APA Format and Writing Quality
Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes
I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.
LopesWrite Policy
For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.
Late Policy
The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication
Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:
Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.
